Tuesday, April 5, 2011

the things I will miss

There is so much I will miss about living here. So much. It's so hard for me to actually wrap my head around the fact that we are moving in 9 weeks. We haven't been to the states since November 2009. This life is the only life my girls remember and know. This is their home.

This will probably be an ongoing post but here is a start of the things I will miss:

People. I will miss the friends we have made here, many that are like family. You cannot but become like family when you live in a place like this. You watch out for each other, you support each other, you cry with each other, you rejoice with each other, you struggle together and encourage one another. Sometimes I reflect on the fact that maybe we wouldn't have been good friends in the states if we had met each other randomly, we are all so different. But here, you are stripped of everything you might hide behind and you truly see each other and know love. Love given and love received. (another post on this later).

People. I will miss living among the congolese. I will miss being the minority and the privilege it is to live here. I have learned so much. I have been so humbled. My heart has been shattered. My heart has been broken again and again. I have been given joy. I have been given grace. I have been given gratitude. ( a lot more on this later )

My house. We live in this huge house with a living room that is full of windows, so I feel like I am in the outdoors all the time.

My yard. We have an incredible yard. It is huge with gorgeous flowers and plants everywhere. We have a swing set. Beautiful tropical birds land in the trees and flowers. We have a tire swing. There are two HUGE trees that flower, one with purple flowers and one with yellow. They fill with flowers and then all the flowers fall to the ground and we play on carpets of yellow and purple.

The weather. The weather here is my favorite and it is perfect in my mind. It is in the 70s year round. I will admit I do not like the dry season at all, not because of the temperature, but because of the dust and the lack of water. However the other 8 months of the year...amazing! Everything is green and lush. We live on a lake and it is simply stunning. I will miss this weather. Somehow I have become very used to 70 degrees year round! I think it will be quite an adjustment getting used to winter.

New Here?

We are an American family living in Mwanza, Tanzania after 2 years of life in the States. Michael is a country director for an NGO which serves school children. Holly is a pediatric nurse practitioner. Before our time in the States, we lived in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for 4 1/2 years. We have four little girls who are 7, 5, and four year old twins. Back in DRC, we started a small charity called Reeds of Hope. Originally we started it to support the small baby home where our girls spent the first 5 months of their lives. Since that time, we have grown and changed in our mission and focus. Now we are working hard to transition to a model of family support, reunification, and alternative care.

Please do not use any photos on this blog without permission. All photos are ones taken by the author of this blog and not for use elsewhere without permission. Thank you.

Header photo on far left is used with permission from Channel Initiative and is from eastern DRC. Photo on right is from Mwanza, Tanzania.